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Pioneers of the Royal Flying Doctor Service &lpar;John Flynn Place&rpar; Print Page

John Flynn Place

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

John Flynn Place was built as a bicentennial project to commemorate the pioneers of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The foundation stone was laid on the 8th October 1986 by the Premier and Treasurer of Queensland the Honourable Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It was opened in 1988 by their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of York.

John Flynn Place houses a unique combination of historic material, including photographs, documents and artifacts.

On 9 September 1928, the Aerial Medical Service was established at Cloncurry, a site chosen because the area was made up of scattered settlers and small townships. Cloncurry had a well equipped aerodrome, a basic telegraph and telephone and a 40 bed hospital with a resident Medical Officer. Dr. K. St Vincent Welch who was appointed as the first flying doctor. A single engine DH50 was chartered from QANTAS, modified to carry a stretcher. QANTAS also assigned a pilot, Arthur Affleck to the service. In 1941 the name was changed to the Flying Doctor Service and in 1955 it was granted the prefix ‘Royal’. There are now 14 bases and 29000 outposts across Australia realizing Flynn’s dream of ‘A mantle of safety over the inland.”